Euro 2012 preview: Portugal

Such is their habit for producing a certain type of footballer, it rather feels like we’ve encountered a Portugal side with these strengths and weaknesses many times before.

Portugal is home to the superstar winger. For years their highest-profile player has resided on the flank – first Luis Figo, then Cristiano Ronaldo – with a slight overlap between the two. Simao Sabrosa, Ricardo Quaresma and Nani have all been hyped as a potential world beater – Simao has now retired from international football, Quaresma is on the fringes of the squad, and Nani will start on the opposite flank to Ronaldo, keen to make an impact having missed the 2010 World Cup through injury. “Our kids grow up learning how to dribble, how to run with the ball, how to have the ball at their feet,” Nani says of Portugal’s obsession with wingers. “They rarely play with their back to goal, that’s why I think there aren’t so many strikers in Portugal.”

Still a strong defence

This is a fairly similar squad to the one which travelled to South Africa, but the main difference is a key one – the coach. Carlos Queiroz drilled Portugal excellently at the back – they had the best defensive record at the World Cup – but his side lacked invention and penetration with the ball. After a rather messy divorce a couple of games into Portugal’s qualification campaign for Euro 2012, Paulo Bento took over, and has Portugal playing slightly more open, attractive football that fits with his status as the youngest coach at this competition.

He faces the same problems, however – and has created two of his own, after bust-ups with both Ricardo Carvalho and Jose Bosingwa meant a premature end to the international careers of two fine defenders, at least for as long as Bento is coach. It’s a shame to disturb a unit that worked so well together, although neither were assured of their place anyway: Portugal has a fearsome centre-back duo of Bruno Alves and Pepe that is excellent aerially, if a little brutal at times. Joao Pereira is now the first-choice right-back, after a good couple of seasons for Braga and Sporting, and he’s recently earned himself a move to Valencia for next season, where he’ll replace another old Portuguese right-back, Miguel. On the left there is Fabio Coentrao, who was the best left-back at the World Cup.

Number nine?

At the other end of the pitch is Portugal’s traditional weak spot. A striker is as the only thing Portugal have lacked for years (this is probably slightly untrue: Pauleta had an excellent scoring record at international level, even if he rarely played well in tournaments, while Nuno Gomes was a very intelligent striker with great movement, and had an eye for an important goal). The problem has become more evident in recent years, when those two were past their best.

As in 2010, it’s pretty much a straight choice between Hugo Almeida and Helder Postiga upfront, with the latter likely to get the nod. Almeida is a straight target man, whereas Postiga’s link-up play is better but he’s become a more basic number nine as the years have gone by. Neither are prolific – and so the stereotype remains true – but this isn’t necessarily a huge problem. International football is full of number nines who ‘do a job’ in a successful side without being superb goalscorers, and besides, this has been such an issue for Portugal for so long, that they’ve now become accustomed to playing without a Golden Boot contender up top. It isn’t a shock situation, and it’s reasonable to suggest that Cristiano Ronaldo (146 goals in 144 games for Real Madrid) and Nani can provide goals from the flanks.

Number ten?

But Portugal have developed a secondary problem – a lack of creativity. While Figo received the most acclaim, the heartbeat of Portugal’s ‘golden generation’ was Rui Costa, as pure and as brilliant a number ten as Europe has seen this century. His decline towards the end of his career happened at a perfect time for Portugal, as Deco acquired Portuguese citizenship and became a top-class player at roughly the same point. The transition between the two was slightly clunky (and it was sad that Rui Costa effectively got bumped down to a reserve on home soil in his final tournament in 2004), but at least there was always a constant source of creativity. After Deco, and with the sad injury to the brilliant Zenit playmaker Danny (on the fringes of the side, yet capable of breaking through) there is nothing.

Well, that’s not quite true. Central midfield is traditionally an area Portugal excel in, yet at the World Cup there was a huge problem with a lack of ambition from that zone. It was obvious before the tournament that Queiroz wasn’t allowing his midfielders any freedom of expression or license to move forward, and it was incredible to see the ball carried forward down the flanks, only for three central midfielders to sit behind the ball, broadly doing the same job. You basically need ball-winning, passing and creative ability from a midfield trio, but Portugal had three players covering the first two jobs between them, and no-one moving forward towards the front three, with Deco staying deep in the role he was used to for Chelsea, rather than the position he played so well for Porto back in 2003/04.

Midfield duties

There’s a danger of that happening again. Portugal’s deep-lying midfielder will be Miguel Veloso, who is more of a cultured player than a pure scrapper, and sits in front of the back four spreading play to the flanks – particularly to Portugal’s right, as he is naturally left-footed. He needs to be more active to get into positions to receive the ball – he still doesn’t quite seem accustomed to playing so deep. Slightly ahead to his left, his old Sporting colleague Joao Moutinho is an intelligent, gifted passing midfielder who keeps things simple, and also likes to look to wide positions rather than play an incisive forward pass. There’s already a slight overlap in duties there.

The third midfielder, therefore, has to be more forward-thinking. However, in the absence of a Rui Costa or a Deco, the verticality will instead come from Raul Meireles (with Ruben Micael a similar option). He is essentially a box-to-box player, a jack of all trades, shoved forward to connect the midfield and the attack. It’s not an ideal situation, but it’s workable – and in the pre-tournament friendlies there was a good understanding between the two more advanced midfielders – one came deep when the other moved higher up, and vice-versa.

Yet for all the passing quality from deep and the energy from Meireles, there’s still a problem with creativity. Again, Portugal will be forced to look to the flanks, but can you expect two wingers, however talented, to do the job of a number ten and a number nine? That’s even before you think about them doing their duties as wide players.

Wingers

Ronaldo, inevitably, is given license to do as he pleases, to a certain extent. He plays narrow on the left, always looking to come inside into a shooting position. That narrowness is compensated for by the attacking thrust of Coentrao coming down the outside – those two had a good relationship even before Coentrao joined Ronaldo at Real Madrid, and the left flank is certainly the strongest part of the side going forward (although opposition right-backs can ask questions of Ronaldo’s defensive awareness by breaking quickly). Pereira supports Nani well, but with less gusto and excitement, in addition to the fact that Nani stays wider.

Despite a strong defensive unit, it’s debatable whether Portugal are good enough at stopping counter-attacks – Veloso isn’t a natural holder (Custodio, a back-up, is, and “has different characteristics to all the other midfielders – he is a positional player who is good for this single role,” says Bento) and Alves isn’t the quickest.

In charge of a side that neither scored nor conceded many goals at the World Cup, Bento will probably need to make good use of his bench. There, Portugal have options. Hugo Viana, originally omitted from the squad yet given a late call-up after the injury to Carlos Martins, offers an ability to play clever passes from midfield. Introducing him for one of Portugal’s midfield trio would be a good way to play a more proactive game without taking a big gamble, although Bento’s original selection indicates he’s not a huge fan of the Braga player. “Hugo Viana had a good season, he’s a good player, but in view of our style of play he did not fit into this 23-man list,” he had said.

On the flanks, there is Quaresma – unpredictable and often underwhelming, but exactly the kind of player you’d given ten minutes to ‘try and make something happen’, although Silvestre Varela might be a more likely supersub, having reluctantly grown used to that role at Porto.

Upfront, Almeida will probably start on the bench and is a more direct version of Postiga. Nelson Oliveira is a rough diamond – the Benfica youngster “offers us something different to our other two strikers, and he is a young player with a lot of potential and a lot of quality,” in Bento’s words, and could be a revelation.

Conclusion

There will be few surprises from Portugal. They’ll retain the ball well, and look to the flanks quickly for Ronaldo and Nani to provide a moment of magic. If Ronaldo is on top of his game, he’s the most dangerous attacker in the tournament, and therefore Portugal have a decent chance of a good run – but it’s rare for a victorious international side to rely on individual brilliance over attacking cohesion and variation.

Quick guide

Coach – Paulo Bento

Formation – 4-3-3

Key player – Cristiano Ronaldo

Strength – the flanks, specifically the left due to the support of Coentrao

Weakness – the double problem of a lack of creativity and a lack of a true poacher

Key tactical question – Is Meireles good enough in his advanced position to connect midfield and attack?

Key coach – “If the team score plenty of goals, it really doesn’t matter who gets them as long as we win and our attacking plan works. We have a lot of attacking options and I am confident that our strikers are good enough.”

“the center-backs aren’t the quickest” am Pepe is an incredibly fast center-back probably one of the fastest center-backs in the world. I remember someone talking of how only Robben was faster in the sprints in Real’s training than Pepe during the Shuster.
Although aside from that this is another excellent piece.

JC on June 5, 2012 at 7:15 pm

Pepe was fast. His speed hasn’t been the same since that knee injury right before WC2010.

I think this defense is a disaster waiting to happen. Alves and Pepe are prone to mental errors and can be overly physical. Neither comes close to having Carvalho’s positional sense. Pereira and Coentrao are converted wingers. Pereira has speed and tenaciousness, but he’s prone to rash tackles, too. He’s also a disaster defending 1v1.

I love Veloso, but Custodio might be a better fit for this squad – having him hold frees up Moutinho and Meireles to go forward more often. As for lack of #10, I wish Bento would have taken a chance on Sporting’s Andre Martins.

Aidan on June 5, 2012 at 7:23 pm

Good point
also the fact that people would naturely be slower at 29 as opposed to 27 anyway but as center backs go he is still fairly fast , he’s still quick enough to cover most of the time for his very average positioning.
This defense also looks much to physical every one of them is prone to the odd rash tackle.

Jman on June 5, 2012 at 7:29 pm

I also think that Custodio would be a much better option than Veloso as the defensive midfielder. Veloso can be a little too casual in possession, so he loses the ball frequently. He also isn’t that great defensively.

I’ve watched a lot of Braga this season and Custodio has been brilliant for them. He may not have Veloso’s creativity or set-piece ability, but he is extremely sound defensively. He is also very comfortable in possession, rarely misplacing a pass. Lastly, he is a big threat in the air which will help Portugal both offensively and defensively since they tend to have trouble defending set pieces.

Also, Andre Martins will be an excellent #10 for the future!

JC on June 5, 2012 at 7:38 pm

Isn’t it ironic that Custodio could replace Veloso, 6 years after Veloso replaced Custodio at Sporting? The knock on Custodio at the time was he wasn’t creative enough in his passing.

I think Veloso can defend; he came up as a center back and was converted to DM by Paulo Bento in his final U19 season with Sporting. The problem is that he’s developed a lot of bad habits over the past few years. I thought the move to Italy would help correct them, but doesn’t appear so.

Jamie on June 6, 2012 at 6:29 am

yes the Alves/Pepe pairing has the potential for so many “rushes of blood to the head” moments that could form crimson waves that leave opposing attackers clutching limbs and Portuguese fans clutching their heads.

Arvid on June 5, 2012 at 7:28 pm

I think there is a fair chance that Portugal will become a really reactive side, especially against Germany and Holland, maybe even against Denmark as well. They have the team set out for it, a solid central defence and a solid but slightly less creative midfield three, all good and responsible enough to just sit there as a unit. Given there is good amounts of pace and goal threats from the flanks, and a striker who not have a reputaton of scoring goals, I think that’s the way Portugal will try to set out.

Bruno on June 5, 2012 at 7:49 pm

Without a doubt, both because of the adversaries, but also because that is a intrinsic to Paulo Bento, just look at his tactical tendencies with Sporting CP. In fact, the fact that, as the article mentioned, Portugal don’t really have a 10 and have a lackluster 9 means that they will actually do better on the counter if their defense holds on well.

I like this Portugal team and think they could beat Holland to second place. I’m not sure how far they will go after that, as they have some weaknesses, but they seem a better team than Holland to me. They have a settled and strong defense, which could be very hard for the Dutch to break down. They have a solid midfield, with good passing ability in Veloso and Moutinho that should be able to spring quick counter attacks to the wingers. Portugal then arguably have the two best wingers at the tournament with Ronaldo and Nani both offering real goal threats. Up front Postiga can bring both into play with good movement and build up play, while the super sub Oliveira could change a game if Portugal are chasing a game.

Their big weakness is their lack of threat of midfield, with Meireles a poor option that offers neither creativity or a goal threat. He should help defend well and his energy high up the pitch could sprout quick breaks, but he if Portugal go behind and need to attack then he will won’t offer much.

But I still think they will thrive as underdogs against the Germans and Dutch, and with the excellent Ronaldo they will always carry a threat. They are a better side than the WC team and could surprise a few people.

While Meireles is far from an ideal attacking midfielder, he is probably our 3rd biggest goal threat after Ronaldo, Postiga, and Nani. He often gets into great positions and he does get many chances in an around the box. He is excellent in a quick-passing, counter attacking side, and that’s how Portugal plays.

I also think that Oliveira can be a huge threat off the bench. He has incredible pace and athleticism. Even though he’s still a very raw talent, he could play a very big role off the bench.

I would agree he can get into good positions, but his finishing isn’t great. I would disagree about his passing, he can be sloppy and give the ball away at times when in high up positions and under pressure. The weak link of this team for me

Jamie on June 7, 2012 at 10:34 am

I very much agree with you on Oliveira. I hope he is looked to before Almeida as he as tremendous upside and Almeida has already proven to be useless.

RAHUL KHOND on June 5, 2012 at 8:26 pm

good one they are prone to counter attacks and that has been their problem all time along . their other problem is players spending too much time on the ball trying to be the heroes rather than team players and that had been their biggest drawback since opposition can get themselves organized and can hit them hard . another problem is discpline which they lack so all and all another team which can struggle .

Mark on June 5, 2012 at 11:32 pm

I think Portugal are actually being unfairly written off.

Everyone’s just seeing it as a foregone conclusion that Germany and Holland are going through from the group. I’d still say they are favorites, but I think Portugal will be more threatening than people think.

They’ve got a pretty solid defence, probably better than Holland’s, and they have arguably the best player in the world and either way, a fantastic player or one wing, and a very good winger on the other. Midfield’s not that weak, they’ve got a player who played a key role in Chelsea’s CL success, and Moutinho is a very tidy player, and Postiga has looked very decent at times this season for Zaragoza.

Wouldn’t write them off just yet personally.

Bullion on June 6, 2012 at 3:45 am

Any chance Portugal may do without a normal striker and field an extra midfielder. Something similar to Barcelona fielding Fabregas in a withdrawn forward role, could be Meireles in this case, with an extra midfielder, maybe Custodio and push Veloso forward, allowing Ronaldo complete freedom to roam with little defensive duties.

That’s not a terrible idea but Meireles would be completely unsuited to that role, maybe Danny could do that if he was fit. Also Portugal’s philosophy has been 4-3-3 for so long, any variations and flirting with 4-4-2 and players out of position upfront failing to work, that it would be highly criticized by the public and would be too much away from a team and players highly drilled in this system for the vast majority of their careers.

Jon on June 7, 2012 at 4:19 am

Danny has actually played as a false 9 for Zenit before. He’s hurt though…

Andrew on June 6, 2012 at 4:21 pm

This would appear to play to the squad’s strengths, although I wonder if the Portuguese CBs could do the job of circulating the ball quickly and penetrating opportunistically.

Thanks to ZM and contributors.

kramxel on June 6, 2012 at 4:52 am

Really not that pumped up about the Selecção.

I think Portugal have more concerns than obvious qualities… and we look better on paper than we do on the field.

Starting at the back, ever since R.Carvalho was removed from the squad, we’ve seen a rotation at centre back with B.Alves eventually winning the spot…
Problem is both he and Pepe have mental lapses and neither is very “clean” to start with… That means a lot of fouls being conceded in central areas, because the midfield doesn’t offer the ammount of protection it should (more on that later).

On the left Coentrão seems to have taken a hit from his poor play at Real Madrid and doesn’t have the confidence he had 2 years ago, altough he remains a threat.

On the right, João Pereira has been doing a good job at international level despite being inconsistent at club level. He motors down the wing and supports the attack but often leaves spaces in behind.

I think the whole defense is a bit fragile and very different from what it was 2 years ago, despite having good players. Defending against the counter will be a major issue as we have conceded a lot of goals through this fashion.

One of the reasons for the defensive problems is definitely the midfield coverage (or lack of it).

Portugal had established a trio of Meireles (playing deeper) and the double Moutinho and Martins higher up.
That trio offered some balance with Meireles able to provide energy in front of the defense and the needed scrappy play, Moutinho being all over the place (with his incredible stamina) and helping out both defensively and offensively… and Martins providing directness both from his ability to spray the ball at long ranges and from his vertical movement towards goal.

It wasn’t perfect, but it worked…. problem is Martins got injured just before the EURO and Portugal now have a big hole to fill in the midfield area.

Veloso seems to have and advantage on Paulo Bento’s selection, but his skills are not what the team needs.
With Pepe and B.Alves so keen to foul, one true holding player, who could close the space in front of them, thus allowing both to face their opponent head on (which is their strength) would be the best for the team.
Veloso’s strength’s are the opposite… he plays much more like a Pirlo, spraying the ball around, than an actual holder. His best seasons have come when he had 2 players higher up to provide the energy he hasn’t (a lot like Pirlo).

Custodio fits that role… but he was only called up for the Euro and didn’t take part in the qualifying… also he hasn’t palyed at the top international level since palying in the u-21 team and he’s 29 now…
There’s a big question of cohesion with his teammates.

Other options could be keeping Meireles at the back and adding someone higher up, but Viana (as ZM stated) isn’t really an option and Micael doesn’t have the consistency required.

Regardless of the option, the midfield will be one of our major problems.

Looking at Ronaldo and Nani, again great on paper… reality is a little different.

Ronaldo has been struggling with the national team, and him being named captain and being put under the spotlight were some of the issues.
He seems to always try to do too much.. when he’s at his best doing the opposite. His role at Real his mainly to provide a last touch and always in the final third of the pitch… At the Selecção he plays much more of a free role and his required to pick up the ball in midfield instead of higher up.

Nani plays more like he does at United, always staying wide and only moving inside when required… his understanding with J.Pereira isn’t ideal because the former also prefers to stay wide instead of taking advantage of the space Nani opens.
That usually creates a clog down the right and fluidity is a banned word.

Nani and Ronaldo do combine well with Postiga.
And that has been one of the bright spots of Bento’s tenure.

Hugo Almeida isn’t a top level 9 and his much more profilic at holding the ball… problem is he plays too direct for Ronaldo and Nani’s taste… it never seems like there’s a good understanding between the 3…

Postiga is the opposite, providing great link up play and intelligent movement, but failing to hold up and create space for himself against opposing CBs.
Like I stated, Postiga will bring more to the team and overall game fluidity.

It was easy to criticize Queiroz for his negative approach at the last WC, and I was one of them, but 2 years down the road, and with a squad with pretty much the same players, it looks more and more that the old days of the attractive dominant “sexy” side are over.

Portugal are heading into a new phase without the superb talent and mainly the quantity of quality players.
Our current substitutes are no guarantee of top level play.

As ZM has stated with Denmark, any injury will be a huge blow.

Facing organized and good counter attacking sides isn’t the ideal situation for Portugal… who will struggle in this competition to get out of the group stage.

I would agree that there is something very wrong with the way that midfield is working together, and there’s a lack of creativity, but I don’t agree with some statements about individual players.

Veloso is a Pirlo-esque player (with the obvious difference in quality) who is very much used to playing that deep, contrary to what you’re saying. He played as a defender on his youth years, and mostly in this very DM position throughout his Sporting years. The rest is correct. He is incredibly accurate at passing and therefore he loves a long ball, also very good at crossing and free kicks meaning he adds value to set pieces. The problem is that he isn’t very reliable defending despite his experience there, also quite a slow player making it risky to go with him as a sole DM. If his long balls would be perfect for starting counters against a team likely to dominate possession and play further up the field like Germany, he is however also absolutely unsuited to playing in a group that features three world class advanced playmakers in Ozil, Sneijder and Eriksen. I think he is going to be a liability.

Moutinho does have a slight overlap of roles with Veloso as he is indeed also a strong starter of moves, but he plays much simpler balls and unambitious passes. Being a very determined player and a strong tackler he could aid Veloso’s defensive duties further down the field. However I’d rather switch things up completely and play him as our most further forward midfielder. He is not wildly creative but does have more creativity than Meireles up front, and given attacking playmaker duties he will occasionally pretend he’s one and try a through ball, and will contribute a lot more in intricate passing moves.

Which leads us to Meireles. Whilst shooting and running are two of his strengths, they are hardly world class strengths or indispensable to our game, hence I’d turn things completely upside down and play him as a pure DM in Veloso’s place. Not his natural position but he can do that very well, he’s a very reliable player defensively. The best performance from this Paulo Bento side came in the 4-0 drubbing of Spain in a friendly and Meireles was excellent in that role in that match.

That game we played Meireles-Moutinho-Martins as our destroyer-passer-creator trio, which worked remarkably well. Unfortunately Martins is injured. Whilst Martins is not a very good player, too prone to trying too many Hollywood balls hence squandering possession, this redistribution of roles made that midfield far more solid. With him out it’s hard to see who could replace him directly, hence Veloso being given a go as he’s the better player available, unfortunately his introduction screws the balance completely. I’d rather play Meireles-Moutinho-Viana or Meireles-Moutinho-Micael with either Viana or Micael as the creator in Martins’ place, even if the first may be too slow a player to cope with the high tempo of a team like Germany, and Micael despite a clever player isn’t anywhere near top quality.

Other points worth mentioning is that upfront while Postiga has long played much better for our national team than at club level, and he is likely to be our main starter, Nélson Oliveira is slowly coming through, and after a dreadful performance by Hugo Almeida in the Turkey match, he probably overtook Almeida in the pecking order already. He has loads of pace and physical presence whilst also technically capable and intelligent – hence a pure complete forward. Still very much a raw diamond, hasn’t scored many goals at senior level yet, but would be perfect for starting the Germany game as we’ll almost certainly forced to playing exclusively on the counter. I think Paulo Bento will be considering the same and may spring that surprise.

At right-back Miguel Lopes had a surprisingly brilliant game for his first cap against Turkey and looks on better form over João Pereira. He may also surprise and be a starter. Quality going forward, a much better tackler than Pereira, and nowhere near as prone to losing his temper.

Some good points, I think they will probably stay the same as ZM has predicted though. I think Veloso will have a good tournament, and him and Moutinho have a very good understanding in that midfield. Meireles ill at least have the energy to connect the midfield and attack (if not the quality) and I see Oliveria as a great super sub, who could come on and change a game, but I wouldn’t start him yet, not sure he has the stamina yet.

Jman on June 6, 2012 at 3:15 pm

I’m actually not a big fan of using Raul Meireles as a defensive midfielder. While he is an intelligent, hard working midfielder, he is very poor defensively. Teams with strong offenses would walk all over Meireles. He is very weak physically and his tackling is very poor. His good positional sense will allow him to make some interceptions, but he is the last player I’d want to mark the likes of Ozil or Sneijder. They’d blow right by him. Meireles isn’t a traditional attacking midfielder, but he is at his best as the most advanced midfielder in a 4-3-3.

As I mentioned earlier, Custodio is definitely our best option as the defensive midfielder. Daniel Carrico would have also been a decent option, but he wasn’t called up. Miguel Veloso, in my opinion, is very similar in style to Hugo Viana. Both players excel in a deep-lying role when they have the help of a strong ball-winner(Viana has Custodio at Braga). Moutinho is actually a very good long passer as well, but he is at his best when he’s dictating the play with his short passing game. He’s very nimble on the ball, and despite his small physique, he is very good defensively.

If I were Bento, I’d use a midfield trio of Moutinho, Meireles, and Custodio. Custodio’s defensive abilities will allow Moutinho and Meireles to play further forward. The inclusion of Custodio will help Portugal both defensively and offensively.

This side befudles the fuck out of me…IMO they are the dark horses I mean Ronaldo, Nani, Moutinho, Meireles? I have no idea how they don’t perform better…I love that they are playing a pure 4-3-3 but it seems they play on the counter way to much relying on Ronaldo’s pure skill and Nani’s pace. They desperately are missing the playmaking of a Rui Costa or Deco…Raul is going to have to have a huge tournament for them to win because Moutinho is a very reserved midfielder and Veloso just sits deep, a lot of pressure is going to sit on Meireles’ shoulders to provide creativity…Honestly I don’t see them doing much unless Ronaldo just rips corners they lack a good ST and their CB pairing are suspect.

Alican on June 7, 2012 at 9:04 am

Considering the lack of talent at the striker position, would it be a terrible idea to try Ronaldo at number 9, and get another winger (say Quaresma) into the starting line up?

Especially after seeing Almeida miss chance after chance, and effectively play Portugal with 10 men, I’m starting to think this could be a beneficial change. Sure, Ronaldo would be less effective at number 9, but the team would most likely perform better.

kramxel on June 8, 2012 at 6:28 am

Problem is Ronaldo is a subpar #9, despite is finishing ability and our other options for the wing, Quaresma and Varela are nowhere near top form after disappointing seasons (though there’s much to be said when you realise Quaresma’s last good season was 4 years ago).

Alican on June 8, 2012 at 9:33 am

His last couple of seasons in Turkey (in a similar standard with the Portugese League) were actually not bad at all:

11/12 (Besiktas): 7 goals, 11 assists in 34 club games
10/11 (Besiktas): 11 goals, 17 assists in 42 club games

compared to 07/08 (Porto): 11 goals, 17 assists in 47 club games
06/07 (Porto): 8 goals, 19 assists in 35 club games

Stavrogin on June 7, 2012 at 2:17 pm

Nice intro, you should have mentioned Sergio Conceicao too

Stavrogin on June 7, 2012 at 2:24 pm

<>

Chapeau.

Stavrogin on June 7, 2012 at 2:49 pm

Hey, I must have used bad tags for the quotation.
I wanted to write:

“the heartbeat of Portugal’s ‘golden generation’ was Rui Costa, as pure and as brilliant a number ten as Europe has seen this century”.
Chapeau.

Stavrogin on June 7, 2012 at 2:47 pm

ZonalMarking, do you see a similarity between Portugal’s and Italy’s midfields?

Except the sheer numbers (Italy on his 4-3-1-2 has one more midfielder than Portugal), both have an above average quality in all midfielders, a deep playmaker, a jack of all trades in Meireles/Marchisio to link with the attack.
The difference is that the Italian midfield’s quality is expected to create vertical play in order to feed Balo/Cassano, whereas Portugal’s midfield quality is expected to feed the wings.

John on June 8, 2012 at 5:37 am

This is the type of team you label “counter attacking”. It will depend absolutely on individualism. Ronaldo and Nani are like Ribery and Robben in Bayern.

Toprak on June 9, 2012 at 10:56 pm

Weakness – the double problem of a lack of creativity and a lack of a true poacher:

Solution: Quaresma-Ronaldo-Nani

Key tactical question – Is Meireles good enough in his advanced position to connect midfield and attack?

Answer: No. Manuel Fernandes should have been there!…

Miguel on June 10, 2012 at 5:40 pm

Excellence piece. I too believe Portugal’s main problem is the midfield’s lack of creativity (as seen yesterday against Germany), and the lack of a good striker. I won’t go into the striker issue because pulling Ronaldo or any other Winger to that position would be a shameful loss of creativity; I seriously dislike Postiga since his times in Porto, but between him and Hugo Almeida, no one is clearly superior. Let’s go into the midfield.

As said, Veloso and João Moutinho are wonderful players when it comes to passing. Since the times in Sporting they’ve always understood each other well, the latter one playing far simpler than the first. However, by that time Bento’s Sporting used a losango-shaped 4-4-2 tactic, with Veloso as a DM, Rochembach and Moutinho as CMFs, and the useful and creative-yet-effective russian player, Izmaelov. Portugal doesn’t have 4 midfielders – it has 3 – and it doesn’t have a midfield player with Rochembach’s defensive prowess to free Moutinho further ahead. Moutinho can be an effective creative player, but for that he can’t be tied to defensive roles.

Then there’s Raul Meireles. Having played as a wonderful box-to-box in Porto, I’m quite fond of him. However, he doesn’t add much offense to the team either. Being a jack-of-all-trades he might “work”, but he’s definetly not the best option. Meanwhile, the creative Carlos Martins isn’t available, and Ruben Micael isn’t good enough for a 1st choice if Portugal wants to have a chance at doing a good tournament campaign.

Pepe was used as a DMF quite successively on 2010’s World Cup. With Rolando as a possible CB (and having played with Bruno Alves in Porto as well), this would make Portugal’s midfield more solid without much compromise on defense, while freeing up João Moutinho for more creative tasks. Raul Meireles could play between the two, making the transition between Pepe and Moutinho. Moutinho has also played with Nani in Sporting before. Making them closer would likely create more opportunities for 1-2 plays and creative moves on the right side. The left side would rely on faster and direct Coentrão-Ronaldo combinations, adequately compensated by Meireles who had to do that in Porto when Cissokho/Álvaro Pereira launched their quick sprints down the left side. None of these roles are unfamiliar to any of the players.

Another solution would be using Varela/Quaresma on the right wing, bringing Nani to Meireles’ spot. I find this solution less optimal, but Nani has played as Midfielder before on Sporting (not on the 4-4-2 losangle shape), and could eventually create interesting plays if he takes his time and doesn’t rush a pass.